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Change Windows 10 Users Folder Name

  1. Run ‘command prompt’ as administrator” and enter following
  2. net user Administrator /active:yes
  3. Sign out
  4. Log in with “Administrator” account. If newly activated wait up until Windows sets up the account
  5. From Start Menu right-click on Start Menu icon and select ‘Computer Management’
  6. If “Local users and groups” not listed run steps below to install Local User and Group Management (lusrmgr.exe) Console for Windows 10 Home
  7. Click on “Local users and groups”
  8. Click ‘Users’.

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Add .wps and .xlr Works associations to Office 2010 Starter Edition

Do the following (with Admin account) to associate .wps (Works document) and .xlr (Works spreadsheet) file types to Word and Excel.

  1. Create Restore point to roll-back in case you make a mistake editing the Registry
  2. Run Regedit
  3. Locate HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ .doc
  4. Right-click .doc key and select Export and save to Desktop file as, e.g. docassoc.reg. The contents should look like the sample below.
  5. Repeat steps 3-4 for .xls
  6. Exit regedit
  7. In file File Explorer Copy &

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Ubuntu No Sound Audio Output Dummy Device

If audio output device set to Dummy Device reset audio as follows:

pulseaudio --kill; sleep 2s; sudo alsa force-reload ;
pulseaudio --start

Restart audio application(s), e.g. Spotify

This works with Ubuntu 18.04 and may work for other versions too

Add Suspend icon to the KDE Application Menu

To add the Suspend icon to the KDE Application Menu

  1. Click the KDE icon (bottom left hand corner) to bring up the Application Menu
  2. Click “Power/Session” on right-hand list to bring up list of Shutdown Options
  3. Right-click Suspend and select Add to Favorites

Similarly you can add or remove other shutdown icons.

HP 7520 WiFi scanning not working Mac OS High Sierra

If when installing an HP 7520 WiFi printer with HP Easy Start you get a warning that the scanner does not support “Bonjour” then you may end up with a working printer but no scanner!

In most cases this happens because you have a dual band router advertising 2.4GHz and 5GHz on the same SSIDs. In short the HP 7420 only works with the 2.4GHz network.

One solution is to disable the 5GHz network or rename it and only connect the Mac and printer to  the 2.4GHz SSID network.

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Real World WiFi Speeds

Real World Wi-Fi Speeds

IEEE standard Wi-Fi Alliance Standard Theoretical Speed Real-world Speed
802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 10Gps 700Mbps
802.11ac Wi-Fi 5 1.3Gps 200Mbps
802.11n Wi-Fi 4 600Mbps 150Mbps

Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) real world trials carried out in the “hostile” environment of the Mettis Aerospace facility in the UK West Midlands.

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Linux Content Search Tool

Use Catfish to find files and file content quickly – note content search only works for text type files. Use Recoll for other file types.

Install using Synaptic Package Manager or from Terminal as follows:

sudo apt install catfish

Run it by selecting it from from Utilities or use the Search function and enter Catfish to locate.

Once running you should see screen below.

To search for content first click the settings cog and check “Search File Contents”.

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Enable Windows F8 Safe Mode Boot Key

Follow steps below to enable F8 safe mode boot (applies to Windows 10 and 8.1):

  1. Boot PC using Windows 10 or  8.1 ISO USB flash drive or DVD
  2. Click Next to skip the first screen
  3. Press Shift + F10 To open advanced Command prompt window

Type the following command to enable F8 Safe Mode boot key:

bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy

Type Exit and press Enter to quit the Command Prompt.

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Create macOS install usb using Linux

If you don’t have a spare Mac or your Mac is too old to download macOS from the Apple App Store then use the method below.

Create account on hackintosh.download

The download required macOS from https://www.hackintosh.download/category/3-macos/

Insert a usb (16GB+ recommended) into Linux PC usb port and run Terminal

Use fdisk to determine your usb dev name letter, e.g. /dev/sdc. double check the target device letter to avoid overwriting the wrong drive.

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Useful Linux Terminal Commands

Display details about firmware, cache, memory

$ sudo lshw -C memory
  *-firmware                
       description: BIOS
       vendor: FUJITSU // Phoenix Technologies Ltd.
       physical id: 0
       version: 6.00 R1.06.3012.A1
       date: 04/21/2011
       size: 110KiB
       capacity: 4032KiB
       capabilities: pci pnp upgrade shadowing escd cdboot bootselect int13floppynec int13floppytoshiba int13floppy360 int13floppy1200 int13floppy720 int13floppy2880 int5printscreen int9keyboard int14serial int17printer int10video acpi usb ls120boot zipboot biosbootspecification
  *-cache:0
       description: L1 cache
       physical id: 5
       slot: L1 Cache
       size: 64KiB
       capacity: 64KiB
       capabilities: burst synchronous internal write-through data
       configuration: level=1
...
  *-memory
       description: System Memory
       physical id: 2a
       slot: System board or motherboard
       size: 16GiB
     *-bank:0
          description: DIMM DDR3 Synchronous 1067 MHz (0.9 ns)
          product: 99U5471-021.A00LF
          vendor: Toshiba
          physical id: 0
          serial: DE131F7C
          slot: Slot-1
          size: 4GiB
          width: 64 bits
          clock: 1067MHz (0.9ns)
...

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